Electronic sphygmomanometer and blood pressure measurement method

ABSTRACT

An electronic sphygmomanometer includes a cuff to be attached to a blood pressure measurement site, a pump and a valve for adjusting pressure to be applied on the cuff, a pressure sensor for detecting pressure in the cuff, a central processing unit (CPU) for calculating a blood pressure value from the cuff pressure, a memory for recording the blood pressure value, and an operation unit for carrying out a blood pressure measurement. A measurement condition input switch acquires information related to a condition at the time of current blood pressure measurement, and the memory stores the condition as measurement record information along with the blood pressure value. The CPU acquires past measurement record information close to the condition at the time of the blood pressure measurement from the memory and corrects a blood pressure measurement parameter based on the measurement record information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electronic sphygmomanometerincluding a cuff to be attached to a blood pressure measurement site anda blood pressure calculation unit for calculating a blood pressure valuefrom a cuff pressure, and a blood pressure measuring method using thesame.

BACKGROUND ART

A blood pressure is one type of index for analyzing a circulatorydisease. Performing risk analysis based on the blood pressure iseffective in preventing cardiovascular related disease such as apoplexy,cardiac arrest, and cardiac infarction. Conventionally, a diagnosis forperforming the risk analysis is made from the blood pressure (occasionalblood pressure) measured in medical institutions at the time of hospitalvisits and checkups. However, it is recognized from recent research thatthe blood pressure (home blood pressure) measured at home is more usefulin diagnosing the circulatory disease than the occasional bloodpressure. Accompanied therewith, the sphygmomanometer used at home isbeing widely used.

Most of the electronic sphygmomanometers currently being widely used usethe blood pressure calculation algorithm of the oscillometric method orthe microphone method.

In the oscillometric method, the change in arterial volume that occurswhen the cuff pressure is pressurized up to a predetermined pressure(e.g., systolic blood pressure+30 mmHg), and then graduallydepressurized at a predetermined speed (depressurization rate) isdetected as a pressure pulse wave amplitude, and a predeterminedalgorithm is applied on the change in the pressure pulse wave amplitudeto calculate a blood pressure value. The change in arterial volume thatoccurs when gradually pressurizing the cuff pressure at a predeterminedspeed (pressurization rate) may be detected as a pressure pulse waveamplitude, and a predetermined algorithm may be applied on the change inthe pressure pulse wave amplitude to calculate a blood pressure value.

In the microphone method, the occurrence, attenuation, and disappearanceof a Korotkoff sound that occurs when the cuff pressure is pressurizedup to a predetermined pressure (e.g., systolic blood pressure+30 mmHg),and then gradually depressurized at a predetermined speed(depressurization rate), are detected with a microphone arranged in thecuff to determine the systolic blood pressure and the diastolic bloodpressure.

In either blood pressure calculation method, the pressurization valueneeds to be pressurized to a cuff pressure (e.g., systolic bloodpressure+30 mmHg) sufficiently higher than the systolic blood pressure.The depressurization rate and the pressurization rate need to be setsuch that information on the pressure pulse wave amplitude or theKortkoff sound can be fully obtained. Specifically, the depressurizationrate or the pressurization rate needs to be set according to the pulserate of the subject.

(Prior Art of Pressurization Value)

In current sphygmomanometers, methods such as (1) setting apressurization value with a switching switch before measurement (seepatent document 1), (2) estimating a systolic blood pressure duringpressurization, and setting a pressure obtained by adding apredetermined pressure (e.g., 30 mmHg) to the estimated systolic bloodpressure as a pressurization value (see patent documents 2, 3), and (3)setting a pressure obtained by adding a predetermined pressure (e.g., 30mmHg) to an average value of the systolic blood pressure values up tothe previous measurement as a pressurization value (see patent document4) are adopted.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-66835

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2842696

Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Publication No. 3393432

Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.2005-185681

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The blood pressure greatly changes by factors such as measuring time,day of the week, season, environment, stress, illness, various actionsrelated to lifestyle habits (meal, exercise, smoking, rest), and thelike. Thus, a user's systolic blood pressure needs to be known inadvance for the method of (1), but may not necessarily be set correctlyeven if the pressurization value is set based on the previously measuredblood pressure value because the blood pressure greatly fluctuates everytime the measurement is carried out.

Similarly, in the method of (3), a user's systolic blood pressure maynot necessarily be set correctly even if an average value or the like ofa plurality of measurement results is used.

Furthermore, when calculating the blood pressure while depressurizingthe cuff pressure, the pressurization of the cuff pressure needs to becarried out at as high of a speed as possible in order to achieve anaccurate blood pressure measurement.

If pressurization is carried out at low speed, the blood retains(congestion) at the peripheral side (forearm in the case of the upperarm measurement) of the measurement site before the artery is completelyclosed, and an accurate measurement becomes impossible to carry out.Therefore, the pressurization rate is set at as high of a speed aspossible, but as a consequence, the pulse wave information obtainedduring the pressurization becomes less, and the error of the estimatedsystolic blood pressure becomes large in the method of (2), and hence,the pressurization value may not be correctly set.

Therefore, one or more embodiments of the present invention provides anelectronic sphygmomanometer and a blood pressure measurement methodcapable of setting an optimum blood pressure measurement parameter forevery user by correcting a blood pressure measurement parameter based onpast measurement recorded information close to the conditions at thetime of the blood pressure measurement, and enhancing the satisfactionlevel of the user.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, anelectronic sphygmomanometer includes a cuff to be attached to a bloodpressure measurement site, pressurization and depressurization means foradjusting pressure to be applied on the cuff, pressure detection meansfor detecting pressure in the cuff, blood pressure calculating means forcalculating a blood pressure value from the cuff pressure, recordingmeans for recording the blood pressure value, and operation means forcarrying out operations such as blood pressure measurement, theelectronic sphygmomanometer including condition information acquiringmeans for acquiring information related to a plurality of types ofvarious measurement conditions at the time of current blood pressuremeasurement, the recording means being configured to store the variousmeasurement conditions at the time of the blood pressure measurementacquired by the condition information acquiring means as measurementrecord information along with the blood pressure value; measurementrecord information acquiring means for acquiring past measurement recordinformation close to the various measurement conditions at the time ofthe blood pressure measurement from the recording means; and correctingmeans for correcting a blood pressure measurement parameter based on themeasurement record information if the past measurement recordinformation close to the conditions at the time of the blood pressuremeasurement is acquired by the measurement record information acquiringmeans; wherein the measurement record information acquiring means isconfigured to preferentially extract measurement record information withgreater matching measurement conditions.

The blood pressure measurement parameter may be a pressurization setvalue.

The blood pressure measurement parameter may be a depressurization rate.

The blood pressure measurement parameter may be a pressurization rate.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, themeasurement record used when setting the condition at the time of theblood pressure measurement is the most recent record of the measurementrecords close to the current measurement condition.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, themeasurement record used when setting the condition at the time of theblood pressure measurement is the statistical calculation result of aplurality of records from the most recent record of the measurementrecords close to the current measurement condition.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, themeasurement record used when setting the condition at the time of theblood pressure measurement is the statistical calculation result of allrecords of the measurement records close to the current measurementcondition.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, theoptimum blood pressure measurement parameter can be set for every user.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, themeasurement record information acquiring means may be configured to havemeasurement record information in which a certain specific condition anda few other conditions match as outside target of extraction if anothercertain specific condition is different.

Further, according to one or more embodiments of the present invention,the recording means may be configured to store a matching measurementcondition and a measurement condition determined as outside the targetof extraction when the condition is different in association to eachother.

The condition at the time of the blood pressure measurement may be ameasurement condition such as the measurement place, the illnessinformation, the dosing status, the exercise content and the lifestylehabit information.

The lifestyle habit information includes various types of informationsuch as before meal, after meal, after exercise, after smoking, rest(break), and the like.

One or more embodiments of the present invention provides a bloodpressure measurement method for adjusting pressure to be applied to acuff with pressurization and depressurization means when the cuff isattached to a blood pressure measurement site, and calculating a bloodpressure value by blood pressure calculating means based on a cuffpressure detected by pressure detection means, the blood pressuremeasurement method including the steps of acquiring information relatedto a plurality of types of various measurement conditions at the time ofcurrent blood pressure measurement with condition information acquiringmeans; storing the various measurement conditions at the time of theblood pressure measurement acquired by the condition informationacquiring means as measurement record information along with the bloodpressure value in the recording means; and correcting a blood pressuremeasurement parameter based on measurement record information bycorrecting means when the past measurement record information close tothe various measurement conditions at the time of the blood pressuremeasurement is acquired by the measurement record information acquiringmeans from the recording means; wherein the step of acquiringmeasurement record information close to the various measurementconditions by the measurement record information acquiring means isconfigured to preferentially extract measurement record information withgreater matching measurement conditions.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, theprocess of setting the optimum blood pressure measurement parameter forevery user can be executed.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, the stepof acquiring measurement record information close to the variousmeasurement conditions by the measurement record information acquiringmeans may be configured to have measurement record information in whicha certain specific condition and a few other conditions match as outsidetarget of extraction if another certain specific condition is different.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, the stepof storing in the recording means may be configured to store a matchingmeasurement condition and a measurement condition determined as outsidethe target of extraction when the condition is different in associationto each other.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, anelectronic sphygmomanometer and a blood pressure measurement methodcapable of setting the optimum blood pressure measurement parameter forevery user are provided, and the satisfaction level of the user isenhanced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic sphygmomanometeraccording to one or more embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a blood pressure measurementoperation according to one or more embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a table showing data associated with date and time,measurement value, and measurement condition (dosing status).

FIG. 4 is a table showing data associated with date and time,measurement value, and temperature at time of measurement.

FIG. 5 is a table showing data associated with date and time,measurement value, and measurement condition (lifestyle habitinformation).

FIG. 6 is a table showing data associated with date and time,measurement value, measurement condition (measurement place).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below withreference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic sphygmomanometer 2600 according to oneor more embodiments of the present invention includes a cuff 2101, anair tube 2102, a pressure sensor 2103, a pump 2104, a valve 2105, anoscillation circuit 2111, a pump drive circuit 2112, a valve drivecircuit 2113, a timing unit 2115, a power supply 2116, a CPU 2120, adisplay unit 2121, a memory (for processing) 2122, a memory (forrecording) 2123, an operation unit 2630, an interface 2171, and arecoding medium 2172.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the electronicsphygmomanometer 2600 according to one or more embodiments of thepresent invention.

The cuff 2101 is a band shaped member that is connected to the air tube2102 and that is attached to a blood pressure measurement site of theuser to pressurize by air pressure.

The pressure sensor 2103 is an electrostatic capacitance type pressuresensor, in which a capacitance value changes according to the pressurein the cuff (cuff pressure).

The pump 2104 and the valve 2105 apply pressure to the cuff and adjust(control) the pressure in the cuff.

The oscillation circuit 2111 outputs a signal of the frequencycorresponding to the capacitance value of the pressure sensor 2103.

The pump drive circuit 2112 and the valve drive circuit 2113 drive thepump 2104 and the valve 2105, respectively.

The timing unit 2115 is a device for timing the current date and time,and transmitting the timed date and time to the CPU 2120 as necessary.

The power supply 2116 supplies power to each configuring unit.

The CPU 2120 executes the control of the pump 2104, the valve 2105, thedisplay unit 2121, the memories 2122, 2123, the operation unit 2630,[[and]] the interface 2171, the blood pressure determination process,and the management of the recording values.

The display unit 2121 is configured by a display device such as a liquidcrystal screen, and displays the blood pressure value according to asignal transmitted from the CPU 2120.

The memory (for processing) 2122 stores the control program or the likeof the sphygmomanometer.

The memory (for recording) 2123 stores the blood pressure value and alsostores the date and time, the measurement value, and the measurementcondition by association.

In addition to the power supply switch 2131, the measurement switch2132, the stop switch 2133, and the record callout switch 2141, theoperation unit 2630 also includes a measurement condition input switch2641 for inputting measurement conditions, where operation input such aspower ON/OFF of the sphygmomanometer and start of measurement ispermitted, and the inputted input signal is transmitted to the CPU 2120.

The interface 2171 executes recording/readout of the blood pressurevalue with respect to the recording medium 2172 according to the controlof the CPU 2120.

The measurement condition input switch 2641 is configured to permit theinput of a dosing status of whether or not after dosing for themeasurement condition.

The blood pressure measurement operation using the electronicsphygmomanometer 2600 configured as above will be described according tothe flowchart of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the blood pressure measurement operationaccording to one or more embodiments of the present invention.

First, when the power supply switch of the sphygmomanometer is pushed(step S2601), the CPU 2120 initializes the operation memory of thesphygmomanometer, and carries out 0 mmHg adjustment of the pressuresensor 2103 (step S2602).

After the initialization process is terminated, the measurementconditions such as after dosing are input (step S2603) and themeasurement switch is pushed (step S2604), so that the CPU 2120 acquiresthe current date and time from the timing unit 2115 (step S2605), anddetermines one or more of the blood pressure measurement parameters suchas the pressurization value, the pressurization rate, and thedepressurization rate (step S2606). The method of determining the bloodpressure measurement parameter in step S2606 will be described later.

The cuff pressure is then pressurized up to a predeterminedpressurization value by the pump 2104 (steps S2607 to S2608). Thepressurization rate and the pressurization value used here are thepressurization rate and the pressurization value determined in stepS2606.

After pressurizing up to the predetermined pressurization value, the CPU2120 gradually depressurizes the cuff pressure with the valve 2105 (stepS2609). The CPU 2120 extracts the pressure change component involved inthe volume change of the artery superimposed on the cuff pressureobtained during the depressurization, and calculates a blood pressurethrough a predetermined calculation (step S2610). After calculating theblood pressure (step S2611: YES), the CPU 2120 opens the valve 2105 andexhausts the air in the cuff. The CPU 2120 displays the calculated bloodpressure value on the display unit 2121 (step S2612), and records thesame in the memory (for recording) 2123 in association with the date andtime, the measurement value, and the measurement condition (dosingstatus) (step S2613).

In step S2606, the CPU 2120 determines the blood pressure measurementparameter in the following manner.

(When Blood Pressure Measurement Parameter is Pressurization Value)

The pressurization value generally needs to be set to a cuff pressuresufficiently higher than the systolic blood pressure. Specifically, thepressurization needs to be pressurized up to about systolic bloodpressure+30 mmHg.

The pressurization value is set based on the recorded measurement data.Specifically, the CPU 2120 calls out a table as shown in FIG. 3 recordedin the memory (for recording) 2123. The table recorded in the memory(for recording) 2123 used herein records the measurement date and time(“YY (year)/MM (month)/DD (date)” . . . “hh (hour):mm (minute)” . . . inthe figure), dosing status (measurement condition “after dosing” in thefigure), and each measurement value such as blood pressure value andpulse rate (“SYS1 (systolic blood pressure)”, “DIA1 (diastolic bloodpressure)”, “PLS1 (pulse rate)” in the figure) in association with eachother as shown in FIG. 3.

The CPU 2120 then extracts the data closest to the current measurementdate and time and/or the data in which the measurement conditionindicating the dosing status or the like such as whether or not afterdosing is the same from the measurement data recorded in the table.

The CPU 2120 sets the pressure obtained by adding 30 mmHg to thesystolic blood pressure of the most recent data of the measurement datathat matches with the above condition as the pressurization value.

When referring to closest to the measurement date and time, this meansthat at least one or more of the conditions including same measurementmonth, measurement of the same week, measurement of the same day of theweek, and measurement of the same time matches with each other.

Not limited to using the systolic blood pressure of the most recent dataof the measurement data that matches with the above conditions asdescribed above, an average value of the systolic blood pressures of aplurality of measurement data that matches with the conditions may beused, and the pressure in which 30 mmHg is added to such average valuemay be set as the pressurization value.

Alternatively, a representative value of the systolic blood pressure ofa plurality of measurement data that matches with the conditions may beused, and the pressure in which 30 mmHg is added to such representativevalue may be set as the pressurization value.

The representative value may be a maximum value, a median value, or thelike of the plurality of data.

Furthermore, when the measurement data that matches with the measurementcondition does not exist such as in the initial use of thesphygmomanometer, the pressurization value (e.g., 180 mmHg) determinedin advance may be set. The systolic blood pressure may be estimatedduring the pressurization, and the pressure in which 30 mmHg is added tosuch estimated value may be set as the pressurization value, asdescribed in patent documents 2, 3.

(When Blood Pressure Measurement Parameter is Depressurization Value)

The depressurization rate needs to be set to a speed at which the pulsewave amplitude information can be acquired in just proportion by thenumber necessary for the blood pressure calculation. The necessarynumber of pulse wave amplitude information is appropriately five ormore, as described in Japanese Patent Publication. No. 3149873. Asdescribed in the same patent number, the depressurization rate thatsatisfies the same can be calculated by the systolic blood pressure(SYS), the diastolic blood pressure (DIA), and the pulse rate (PLS).

Similar to the pressurization value, the data closest to the currentmeasurement date and time and/or the data in which the measurementcondition is the same from the recorded measurement data is extracted,and the depressurization rate may be calculated based on the systolicblood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and the pulse rate recorded inthe relevant data.

Similar to the pressurization value, if the measurement data thatmatches with the measurement condition does not exist such as in theinitial use of the sphygmomanometer, the depressurization rate (e.g.,5.5 mmHg/sec) determined in advance may be set. Alternatively, asdescribed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3149873, the systolic bloodpressure, the diastolic blood pressure, and the pulse rate may beestimated during the pressurization, and the depressurization ratecalculated by such estimated value may be set.

The sphygmomanometer according to one or more embodiments of the presentinvention adopts a method of calculating the blood pressure duringdepressurization, but other embodiments may be directed to asphygmomanometer of a method of calculating the blood pressure duringpressurization.

In this case, the pressurization rate may be determined instead of thedepressurization rate. The determining method is similar to thedepressurization rate, and thus, the description thereof will beomitted.

The blood pressure changes depending on the surrounding environment suchas the temperature at the time of the measurement. In the electronicsphygmomanometer, the blood pressure is measured with the dosing statusas the measurement condition, but the measurement condition is notlimited to the dosing status and may be the measurement date and time orthe temperature at the time of the measurement. In this case, as shownin FIG. 4, a table in which the measurement date and time, thetemperature (temperature at the time of measurement “25° C.” in thefigure) at the time of the measurement, and each measurement value suchas the blood pressure value and the pulse rate are recorded in thememory 2123. The temperature changes by date (season) and time, andthus, only the measurement date and time and each measurement value maybe recorded in association with each other in the memory 2123.

In this case, the user may input the information of the temperatureusing the measurement condition input switch 2641, or temperaturemeasurement means may be incorporated in the electronic sphygmomanometer2600 to acquire the information of the temperature based on thedetection result of the relevant means.

The measurement condition is not limited to the dosing status, and maybe information related to dosing such as type of drug being taken, or atleast one of exercise content information such as dosing information,measurement place, illness information, or to what extent what kind ofexercise is carried out, or lifestyle habit information related to meal,exercise, smoking, rest (break) or the like may be used as themeasurement condition. In this case, the measurement condition inputswitch 2641 is configured such that various types of information may beinput.

For instance, the blood pressure changes depending on various types ofactions related to the lifestyle habit, and there is a difference in theblood pressure between before meal and after meal, after exercise andduring rest, and before smoking and after smoking. As shown in FIG. 5, atable in which the measurement date and time (“Y1 (year)/M1 (month)/D1(day)” . . . , “h1 (hour):m1 (minute)” . . . in the figure), thelifestyle habit information (measurement condition “after meal”, “afterexercise”, “after smoking”, and “during rest” . . . in the figure), andeach measurement value such as the blood pressure value and the pulserate are associated with each other may be used for the table recordedin the memory 2123.

There is a difference in blood pressure from the psychological stressthe user is subjected to at the time of the measurement. Therefore, itis assumed that the difference occurs in the blood pressure from themeasurement place, which is one measurement condition. For instance, theuser is in a relaxed state in which there is barely any stress at homeand is often in a state of great stress at the office, so that adifference may be generated in the measurement result between when theblood pressure measurement is carried out at home and when the bloodpressure measurement is carried out at the office.

A table in which the measurement date and time, the measurement place(measurement place “home”, “office”, “hospital” etc. in the figure), andeach measurement value such as blood pressure value and pulse rate areassociated with each other, as shown in FIG. 6, may be used as a tableto record in the memory 2123.

As described above, an electronic sphygmomanometer 2600 includesbiological information acquiring means for measuring a blood pressurevalue, recording means (memory 2123) for recording the blood pressurevalue, means (memory 2122) for storing a control program of thesphygmomanometer, or the like, operation means (operation unit 2630) forcarrying out operations such as blood pressure measurement, correctingmeans (CPU 2120) for correcting the biological information acquired bythe biological information acquiring means based on separately acquiredcorrection information, and output means (display unit 2121) foroutputting the corrected information (blood pressure value) after thecorrection, and further including a cuff 2101 to be attached to a bloodpressure measurement site, pressurization and depressurization means2104, 2105 for adjusting pressure to be applied on the cuff 2101,pressure detection means (pressure sensor 2103) for detecting pressurein the cuff, and blood pressure calculating means (CPU 2120) forcalculating the blood pressure value from the cuff pressure, theelectronic sphygmomanometer further including condition informationacquiring means (measurement condition input switch 2641) for acquiringinformation related to the condition at the time of the current bloodpressure measurement, the recording means being configured to store thecondition at the time of the blood pressure measurement acquired by thecondition information acquiring means as the measurement recordinformation along with the blood pressure value, and measurement recordinformation acquiring means (CPU 2120 that executes step S2606) foracquiring the past measurement record information close to the conditionat the time of the blood pressure measurement from the recording meansas the correction information, where the correcting means (CPU 2120 thatexecutes step S2606) is configured to correct a blood pressuremeasurement parameter based on the past measurement record informationclose to the condition at the time of the blood pressure measurement.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, theoptimum blood pressure measurement parameter can be set for every user.

Furthermore, an appropriate blood pressure measurement parametercorresponding to the change in blood pressure caused by the differencein the surrounding environment (temperature herein) at the time of themeasurement may be obtained by correcting the blood pressure measurementparameter with the condition at the time of the blood pressuremeasurement as the measurement date and time or as the temperature atthe time of the measurement.

The measurement condition input switch 2641 serving as input means forinputting the condition at the time of the blood pressure measurement isarranged in the operation unit 2630 as the condition informationacquiring means, and the condition input to the measurement conditioninput switch 2641 is recorded in the memory 2123 with the blood pressurevalue, so that various types of information relevant to the factors thatchange the blood pressure can be easily acquired. Thus, the appropriateblood pressure measurement parameter that takes into consideration eachfactor thus can be set.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, the bloodpressure measurement parameter is corrected focusing on one of thedosing status, temperature, lifestyle habit information, measurementplace and the like, which are the conditions at the time of the bloodpressure measurement, but are not necessarily limited thereto, and someof the various measurement conditions may be combined. In this case, amore appropriate blood pressure measurement parameter can be set byusing the measurement record information in which various measurementconditions match with each other.

Therefore, when a configuration of using the measurement recordinformation in which a plurality of measurement conditions match witheach other is adopted, the measurement record information with morematching measurement conditions is to be preferentially extracted.

However, a difference may possibly occur in the blood pressure value ina case where the measurement time (morning, night), or timing ofmeasurement (after meal, before meal, etc.) is different even if dosingstatus and a few other measurement conditions match with each other.

The measurement record information in which a certain specific conditionand a few other conditions match with each other may be outside thetarget of extraction in a case where another certain specific conditionis different. In this case, a table in which the matching measurementcondition and the measurement condition determined as outside the targetof extraction when the conditions are different are associated with eachother is recorded in the memory 2123, or the like, and the CPU 2120 maydetermine the measurement record information as outside the target ofextraction when the measurement condition determined as outside thetarget of extraction is different.

As described above, the electronic sphygmomanometer 2600 according toone or more embodiments of the present invention includes input means(measurement condition input switch 2641) for inputting measurementconditions in the operation means (operation unit 2630), and records themeasurement condition such as the measurement place, the illnessinformation, the dosing status, and the exercise with the blood pressurevalue in the recording means (memory 2122, 2123).

Embodiments of the present invention are not limited only to theabove-described embodiments, and a great number of embodiments can berealized.

For example, the electronic sphygmomanometer 2600 may be configured todownload an appropriate parameter, threshold value, algorithm, or thelike from a dedicated server to expand the function. In this case, theversion of the software may be upgraded with the hardware as is, oroptimization can be easily realized by the user himself/herself.

The function expansion of the electronic sphygmomanometer 2600 may beexecuted from a user terminal such as a personal computer possessed bythe user without using the server. In this case, the parameter, thethreshold value, the algorithm, and the like may be downloaded from arecording medium such as a CD-ROM.

The electronic sphygmomanometer 2600 may be directly and communicablyconnected wirelessly or by wire to other biological informationacquiring device such as a body composition meter, a pedometer, or anelectronic thermometer. In this case as well, data may be mutuallytransmitted and received to enhance the individual accuracy.

Embodiments of the present invention can be used in the electronicsphygmomanometer adopting the oscillometric method that uses the cuff orthe microphone method.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited numberof embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of thisdisclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised whichdo not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein.Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by theattached claims.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   2600 electronic sphygmomanometer-   2101 cuff-   2103 pressure sensor-   2104 pump-   2105 valve-   2115 timing unit-   2120 CPU-   2121 display unit-   2122 memory (for processing)-   2123 memory (for recording)-   2630 operation unit-   2641 measurement condition input switch

1. An electronic sphygmomanometer comprising: a cuff to be attached to ablood pressure measurement site; pressurization and depressurizationmeans for adjusting a pressure applied on the cuff; pressure detectionmeans for detecting the pressure in the cuff; blood pressure calculatingmeans for calculating a blood pressure value from the cuff pressure;recording means for recording the blood pressure value; operation meansfor carrying out a blood pressure measurement; condition informationacquiring means for acquiring information related to a plurality oftypes of various measurement conditions at a time of current bloodpressure measurement, wherein the recording means stores the variousmeasurement conditions at the time of the blood pressure measurementacquired by the condition information acquiring means as measurementrecord information along with the blood pressure value; measurementrecord information acquiring means for acquiring past measurement recordinformation close to the various measurement conditions at the time ofthe blood pressure measurement from the recording means; and correctingmeans for correcting a blood pressure measurement parameter based on themeasurement record information when the past measurement recordinformation close to the condition at the time of the blood pressuremeasurement is acquired by the measurement record information acquiringmeans, wherein the measurement record information acquiring meanspreferentially extracts measurement record information with greatermatching measurement conditions.
 2. The electronic sphygmomanometeraccording to claim 1, wherein the measurement record informationacquiring means comprises measurement record information in which acertain specific condition and a few other conditions match as outside atarget of extraction if another certain specific condition is different.3. The electronic sphygmomanometer according to claim 2, wherein therecording means stores a matching measurement condition and ameasurement condition determined as outside the target of extractionwhen the conditions are different in association with each other.
 4. Ablood pressure measurement method for adjusting pressure to be appliedto a cuff with pressurization and depressurization means when the cuffis attached to a blood pressure measurement site, and calculating ablood pressure value by blood pressure calculating means based on a cuffpressure detected by pressure detection means, the blood pressuremeasurement method comprising the steps of: acquiring informationrelated to a plurality of types of various measurement conditions at atime of current blood pressure measurement with condition informationacquiring means; storing the various measurement conditions at the timeof the blood pressure measurement acquired by the condition informationacquiring means as measurement record information along with the bloodpressure value in a recording means; acquiring past measurement recordinformation close to the various measurement conditions at the time ofthe blood pressure measurement from the recoding means by measurementrecord information acquiring means; and correcting a blood pressuremeasurement parameter based on measurement record information bycorrecting means when the past measurement record information close tothe various measurement conditions at the time of the blood pressuremeasurement is acquired by the measurement record information acquiringmeans from the recording means, wherein the step of acquiringmeasurement record information close to the various measurementconditions by the measurement record information acquiring means iscomprises preferentially extracting measurement record information withgreater matching measurement conditions.
 5. The blood pressuremeasurement method according to claim 4, wherein the step of acquiringmeasurement record information close to the various measurementconditions by the measurement record information acquiring meanscomprises measurement record information in which a certain specificcondition and a few other conditions match as outside a target ofextraction if another certain specific condition is different.
 6. Theblood pressure measurement method according to claim 5, wherein the stepof storing in the recording means comprises storing a matchingmeasurement condition and a measurement condition determined as outsidethe target of extraction when the conditions are different inassociation with each other.